Ky. Supreme Court Justice Keller appears to hold seat against anti-abortion opponent
Highly important races for the Kentucky Supreme Court took place across the state on Tuesday, and voters appear to have opted against state Republican establishment-backed candidates.
Justice Michelle Keller held off Rep. Joe Fischer, R-Ft. Thomas, in the Northern Kentucky-based 6th District, according to the Associated Press. Keller was up by nearly 10 percentage points with a projected 84% of the vote in.
Court of Appeals Judge Kelly Thompson also has secured a win over Shawn Alcott in Western Kentucky’s 2nd Supreme Court District. He’s up on Alcott by more than 24 percentage points with 69.5% of the vote in, according to the Associated Press, which has called the race for Thompson.
In two much less anticipated races, Jefferson Circuit Judge Angela Bisig coasted to an 80-20 win over Jason Bowman for the Louisville-based 4th Supreme Court District, and Christopher “Shea” Nickell ran unopposed in far Western Kentucky’s 1st Supreme Court District.
With the sometimes contentious races as a backdrop, the currrent makeup of the Kentucky Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in one of its most high-profile cases ever: the lawsuit against the state’s abortion ban.
Fischer drew sharp criticism from both his opponent and nonpartisan watchdog groups for allegedly “cheating” the state’s constitutionally required nonpartisan judicial elections. However, Fischer scored a victory in federal court when a panel of judges temporarily blocked the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission from investigating complaints about the partisanship of his campaign.
In the statehouse, Fischer focused a 20-plus year career around anti-abortion legislation. He was the primary sponsor of Kentucky’s anti-abortion constitutional amendment, which failed on Tuesday, as well as the state’s current ban on abortion, which includes no exceptions for rape or incest.
Alcott and Thompson’s race was decidedly less partisan than Fischer made his race against Keller. Still, Alcott had the backing of PACs backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and GOP U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie.
Thompson said that Hardin County, the second-biggest population center in the district aside from Warren County, played a big role in his win. He won by a nearly 2-to-1 margin there.
“Hardin County has always been very good to me. I knew when I saw the results out of Hardin County that I was going to win,” Thompson said.
Aside from the results in populous counties within the district like Hardin and Warren, Thompson appears to have drummed up big margins in the many rural counties in Western Kentucky as well.
This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 8:14 AM.
